Cody McLeod hasn’t learned his lesson, deserves another suspension

Sorry if you’ve heard this before, but Cody McLeod deserves a suspension after checking a helpless player from behind. For the second time this season the Colorado Avalanche forward delivered what can only be described as a “bad decision” check to the back of an opponent.

This time the victim was Jonas Brodin of the Minnesota Wild.

Look familiar? It should.

For the second time in as many months, McLeod has demonstrated that he doesn’t understand one of the first things that they teach you as a kid growing up and playing hockey. If you see numbers, you don’t finish your check. That mandate has nothing to do with the newer crackdown on injuries to the head. It’s always been the case.

Maybe teams that are opposing Colorado should start to wear STOP signs on their backs instead on numbers and names.

McLeod clearly could have landed a more devastating check in this instance if he had wanted to, but he still made contact. This is still a clear-cut case of boarding, and at this point the 29-year-old is making it far too easy for Brendan Shanahan to bring out his hammer. The hit on Brodin is in no way, shape or form defensible.

You just can’t push a player in that position. You can’t.

He was suspended for five games for the hit on Niklas Kronwall, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him get a few games tacked on now that he’s a “repeat offender.”

It’s obvious what McLeod is paid to do in Colorado. Through 415 games played he has scored 45 goals, posted a minus-27 rating and has 918 PIMs. Once again, this is a case of a less talented individual running a better player through the boards under the guise of “finishing a check.” And once again, the NHL has a chance to make a statement by rolling a big-time suspension.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for that though. And don’t hold your breath waiting for McLeod to clean up his tired and pointless act either. Goons will be goons, and the league will continue to protect them more than the players that actually put butts in the seats.

(h/t to the esteemed Nicholas Goss over at NESN for the GIF)